Jools Oliver has sold her children’s clothing brand, Little Bird, to the high street retailer Next for £2.3m, according to reports.

The 51-year-old, who has been married to the TV chef Jamie Oliver for 26 years, launched Little Bird in 2012. Next already sells the label’s clothes and accessories.

Jools Oliver declined to comment on the sale.

Documents filed at Companies House report that she has resigned as a director of Jools Enterprises Ltd, the company through which she channels much of her earnings.

The company’s registered address is now Next’s head office in Leicestershire. Jeremy Stakol, a Next executive who leads the retailer’s acquisitions, has been appointed as a director.

Next markets Little Bird as a “nostalgic, inclusive lifestyle brand that your kids will love to wear” and describes it as being “influenced by Jools’ own happy childhood”.

The brand has also been used to raise awareness of baby loss. Jools Oliver, who has five children, has suffered five miscarriages. She created a Little Bird collection of “My Rainbow Baby” bodysuits at Mothercare in support of the maternity and baby charity Tommy’s.

Next has built a portfolio of third-party and acquired labels in recent years. Business Matters reported in April 2024, when Next and Frasers Group were competing to acquire Ted Baker, that the retailer had already bought FatFace, Joules and Cath Kidston.

The £2.3m price paid for Little Bird is £800,000 more than the £1.5m dividend that Jools Oliver shared with her husband from his private company, Jamie Oliver Group.

That dividend was more than 40 per cent lower than the previous year’s payout, according to the reports, after profits at the couple’s cookery and media business had almost halved.

In October 2025, Business Matters reported that the couple had taken a £2.5m dividend for the second consecutive year. That followed a 30 per cent drop in pre-tax profits at the group, from £3.4m to £2.4m in 2024, while sales rose 6 per cent to £28.6m.

In those accounts, media and royalty income fell 10 per cent to £19.8m, which was attributed to the end of major deals. Restaurant income rose to £3.6m from £336,000 the year before following new openings, and franchise income from overseas Jamie’s Italian and Jamie’s Deli outlets increased to £3.8m.

Jamie Oliver, also 51, put £25m of his personal wealth into his UK restaurant chain as he tried to rescue it before it collapsed into administration in 2019.

The Jamie’s Italian chain had operated around 40 UK sites before the collapse, while continuing to trade internationally with more than 30 restaurants across 25 countries. High rents, rising costs and increased competition were blamed for its failure.

The chef has since moved to bring the brand back to the UK. Business Matters reported in December 2025 that Jamie’s Italian would reopen in Leicester Square in 2026 through a partnership with Brava Hospitality Group, with the site intended as a prototype for further UK expansion if successful.

Brava chief executive James Brown said the partnership aimed to “reinvent casual Italian dining for a new era”.

The group had also set out plans to open 12 new restaurants internationally in 2025, including its first locations in Oman and Greece, Business Matters reported.

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